Great
Earthquakes In Diverse Places
Strong earthquake hits off Indonesia�s Sumatra
28 May 2011
BY: BNO News
JAKARTA (BNO NEWS) -- A strong earthquake struck off Southern
Sumatra in Indonesia on early Sunday morning, seismologists said,
but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties and no
tsunami alert was issued.
The 6.3-magnitude earthquake at 00.07 a.m. local time (1707 GMT
Saturday) was centered about 119 kilometers (74 miles) from Krui
in West Lampung Regency of Lampung, located on the southern tip of
Sumatra. It struck about 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) deep, making it
a shallow earthquake, according to Indonesia's Meteorological,
Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG).
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) measured the strength
of the earthquake at 5.5 on the Richter scale, far below
Indonesia's magnitude. It said around 5.8 million people may have
felt light shaking, but the agency said it would not expect
damage.
BMKG issued no tsunami alert, saying the earthquake off Southern
Sumatra was not strong enough to generate dangerous waves.
Indonesia is on the so-called 'Pacific Ring of Fire', an arc of
fault lines circling the Pacific Basin that is prone to frequent
and large earthquakes. Volcanic eruptions also occur frequently in
the region.
On December 26, 2004, one of the most powerful earthquakes ever
recorded struck off the west coast of Sumatra in Indonesia. The
9.1-magnitude earthquake unleashed a deadly tsunami, striking
scores of countries. In all, at least 250,000 people were killed.
Most recently, on October 25, 2010, a powerful 7.7-magnitude
earthquake struck just off the Mentawai Islands off the western
coast of Sumatra. As a result, a wall of water killed at least 435
people on the islands and impacted more than 20 villages.